Getting Familiar With WordPress Configuration Settings

There are several reasons that make WordPress a popular content management system (CMS). What’s best about this CMS, is the simple and intuitive administration screen it provides to users. Thanks to the WordPress user-friendly admin interface, we can easily make changes to our website or blog, by using some simple settings and controls. However, the WordPress Settings administration screen deal with only a few specific parts of your site. But, in order to manage the overall behavior of WP powered sites/blogs, you’ll have to become familiar with WordPress Configuration Settings.

This post is intended to throw light upon the different types of screens that helps to control WordPress settings.

1. General (or Settings General Screen)

This is the default screen in the Settings Administration screen and allows users to control certain fundamental configuration settings of their WordPress site/blog, such as the website’s title and location. Additionally, this screen helps in identifying who can create an account on your blog, and even tells the manner in which you can calculate and display dates and times.

Let us now take a look at the options available on the General screen that you can opt for:

Basic Settings

Site Title – As the name implies, this option helps to define the name of your website/blog.

Tagline – This option conveys what your site is about. It is used for entering eye-catching short phrases or slogan.

For instance, let’s say, you want to install WordPress into the blog directory, and then the WordPress URL will look something like: http://mywebsitedomain.net/blog.

Here the mywebsitedomain.net is the domain name of your site. But, in case you entered installed WordPress in your root directory, then WordPress Address will be the root URL: http://mywebsitedomain.net.

Site Address (URL) – This option is used to enter the address using which your users can reach your WordPress site/blog.

Email Address – This option is used to enter the email address to which you’ll be receiving messages about the maintenance and administration of your site/blog.

Membership Settings

Anyone can register – In order to make a user able to create an account on your WP site/blog, just select the checkbox.

New User Default Role – Represents a drop-down list that helps in selecting the default role that you may want to assign to newly registered members, whom you added by going to Administration -> Users -> Users Screen.

Timezone – From this drop-down list select a city having the same time zone like yours. Or else choose from the Etc GMT settings.

Date Format – This format is used for displaying dates on your website. Below are common date format you can choose from:

February 6, 2015

2015/02/06

06/12/2015

Time Format – This format is used to showcase time across your site. Here are a few options you can use to display time:

Once you’ve made changes to the settings according to the aforementioned options, then click on “Save Changes” button for saving all the changes to your site’s database.

2. Writing (or Settings Writing Screen)

This screen enables you to control the interface used for writing new posts. The settings on this screen allow you to add/edit your pages, posts, and custom post types. This screen comprises of three major settings:

Formatting – This can be used to control formatting of your blogs.

Default Post Category – This category is assigned to the post that does not contain any other Categories.

Default Post Format – This option is used by WP theme for creating different styles for all the post types. This option is hidden by default. However, it will be visible only when the activated theme supports “Post Format”.

3. Reading (or Settings Reading Screen)

This setting in this screen make tweaks to the way blogs posts or pages are displayed on your website’s front (or main) page. Here you can even adjust the number of blogs you would like to display on the main page of your blog or site. Besides this, you can even determine how information from your site can be sent to another user’s browser, by making adjustments to the syndication feed features.

4. Discussion (or Settings Discussion Screen)

This screen allows you to control the settings regarding your incoming and outgoing “pingbacks”, “comments” and “trackbacks”.

5. Media (or Settings Media Screen)

Visual content (like images, videos, and other media elements) has become an indispensable part of almost every website. Using the Settings Media Screen, you can easily upload and manage media files. For example, when adding an image to “Media Library” you can define its size as shown in the screenshot below:

6. Permalinks (or Settings Permalinks Screen)

Using this screen, you can modify the permalinks (URL) structure of your WordPress blog. Let us now look at some of the standard settings available in the Settings Permalinks Screen:

Default

Day and Name

Month and Name

Numeric

Post name

Custom structure

Apart from the aforementioned options, you can even enter some optional or custom basis for your blog/site categories and tags in the “Category Base” and “Tag base” textboxes relatively.